


Tonight We're Ghosts

by Havoka



Series: Lovers' Requiem [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Jesse is a gentleman even to women who mix blood into their drinks at bars, Sombra is a vampire, takes place within the Pretty People universe but is standalone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-05-31 08:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15115601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havoka/pseuds/Havoka
Summary: There were few patrons at the bar at that time of night.





	1. Conform Me into the Wicked

Sometimes life happened in funny ways. Sometimes you were getting shitfaced at a dive bar at an ungodly hour feeling sorry for yourself when you noticed an eye-catching woman in a purple cloak downing the same cheap booze as you. Sometimes in your drunken stupor you took a little too much interest in her, and she noticed. Sometimes you kept looking regardless.

Jesse first noticed her mixing something in with her drink. She pulled a vial from a pocket in her cloak and discreetly poured it into her glass. It swirled within the alcohol, thick and viscous and ruby in color. As she drank it down she half-turned, her eyes scanning the bar. When she realized Jesse was staring at her, she paused on him. It was far too late to pretend he hadn't been looking. He offered her a small smile and a chivalrous nod.

Her glass clinked carelessly against the counter's chipped surface as she set it down. She didn't seem drunk. If anything she just looked bored.

"It's not polite to stare," she said.

He took a drag of the cigarette that had all but burnt out in its ashtray. "Never claimed to be a gentleman."

There were few patrons at the bar at that time of night – well technically it was morning now. It had been morning for a good few hours. The emptiness of the bar made it only more awkward once they spoke, for there wasn't a single other person between them to break up the ensuing silence. Jesse tried to focus only on his drink. After all, that's what he was here to do. Drink away the past, present, and future.

The woman was watching out the grimy window beyond the bar. Jesse noticed she checked it frequently, studying the sky as it began to change from black to dark purple. He tried to ignore her behavior, but his drunk self was not half as smooth as his sober self. Not even close.

"Waitin' for someone?" He eventually asked. His words were getting slurred from a mixture of alcohol and lack of sleep. He leaned his metal forearm on the counter and slouched forward a bit.

"I don't wait for people." To his surprise, the woman's lips were turned slightly upward at their corners. "People wait for me."

"Oh yeah?" He flicked some ashes into the dirty glass tray. "So you got someone waitin' for ya?"

The woman laughed. That was her only answer.

His rational side told him to mind his own business, but his human side was lonesome for some conversation – even small talk with a pretty stranger. The lone wolf lifestyle had always been his way, but that didn't mean he liked it.

The woman surprised him again when she engaged once more. "So, you from around here?" she asked.

"Nah. Just passin' through." It was a lie, but she didn't need to know that.

The woman studied him. Through his drunken haze he realized her eyes were violet. "I never seen eyes like yours before," he added. Maybe it was just because he was drunk, but he they seemed to reflect the low light of the bar like a cat's.

The woman's devious smile grew. "You want a closer look?"

She swung her leg out, drawing Jesse's attention to her body before he caught himself and looked away. "Here, I'll let you see 'em nice and close." She slid onto the barstool beside his. Straightening his spine, he tried to keep a respectful distance between the two of them, but when the woman leaned on the counter and blinked those mesmerizing eyes at him he found himself reaching for her. His rough, calloused hand cupped the side of her face, and his thumb ran gingerly over her soft cheek. Her skin was smooth and supple, but it had a grey tinge to it, as if she wasn't fully well. She was also freezing cold to the touch.

"Damn, you're like ice." He withdrew his hand. "You all right, miss?"

The woman smirked, but she seemed caught off-guard by his question. "What, you worried about me or something?"

"Well ya look like death, so, yeah, a little bit."

"Maybe I _am_ dead."

"So you're an angel, then? I could buy that."

"Oh my God. You're so cheesy." She folded her hands under her chin. This time instead of a wicked smirk, her smile looked a little more genuine. "So what's a guy like you doing drinking by himself? Shouldn't a flirt like yourself have a bunch of girls hanging on his arm or something?"

Jesse laughed. "I ain't like that. S'been a long time since I've held a woman, in fact – most don't care much for my lifestyle."

"Which is, what, dressing like a cowboy and getting blackout drunk at crap bars?"

His shoulders heaved with a silent laugh. "How'd ya know?"

The woman turned on her stool, leaning her elbows back on the counter. "So you're all alone then, huh?"

"I don't mind it, really."

"No one would miss you if you were to, say, disappear without a trace?"

He probably should have been alarmed by such a question. Instead he could only shrug. "I'm already a ghost in this town anyway."

The sky outside was beginning to bleed with streaks of pink and purple. The woman looked out the window. "Damn, I gotta get going."

"Oh? Is it that person you got waitin' for ya?"

At that she chuckled. "He'll keep waiting. He won't like it, but he loves me, so he will."

Jesse felt his jaw tense slightly. "Right," was all he said.

The woman searched his face with clear amusement. "What? You surprised to find out I have a boyfriend?"

"Not at all, actually." He took a swig of his whiskey, swishing it around in his mouth before taking a hard swallow.

Apparently not the strong reaction she had been seeking, the woman huffed. "I don't _really_ have a boyfriend, cowboy. If I did I wouldn’t be bar-crawling by myself at five A.M." She picked up Jesse's glass and took a drink from it as casually as if it were her own. "Anyway, I gotta get going before the sun comes up."

"Where ya headed?"

"Eh, probably under a bridge or something."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, unsure whether or not to laugh.

The woman hopped off the stool and headed for the door. "Unless..." She half-turned, catching Jesse's eyes with her own sparkling violet, "...you wanted to come?"

"Come hang out under a bridge with you and your not-boyfriend?"

"Oh, he won't be there. He's in France."

At that Jesse tilted his head. "You're goin' all the way back to _France?_ "

"Eventually, yeah."

"That where you live, too?"

"At the moment, yes."

"So what the hell're you doin' here in the States? Specifically in the middle of Nowhere New Mexico?"

"I like seeing the world." She cast another glance out the window. "I really gotta go, though. Nice meeting you, cowboy."

She was almost out the door when Jesse said, "Wait."

The woman simply stopped. She did not turn around.

"You got a place to stay?" he asked. "You ain't really sleepin' under a bridge, are ya?"

"I am, actually. It's really not so bad. Plenty of fresh air, birds singing, the constant traffic keeping you awake because everybody in America wants to make sweet love to their car horn..."

In the glint of daylight shining through the windows Jesse caught sight of the woman's mouth – specifically what was inside of it. When she smiled, two long, serpentine fangs exposed themselves. Their tips were stained with blood.

Jesse's eyes widened. The woman must have noticed his reaction, for her hand shot up to cover her mouth. But it was far too late.

"What in the hell...?"

The woman took off running. Jesse scrambled after her, but in his drunken state he was far from coordinated. She ran out the door and turned the corner. He was only moments behind her, but as soon as he emerged from the bar she was gone.

His first instinct was to call out her name, but even as he drew in a breath to do so he realized he hadn't gotten it. All he could do was stumble down the street, sweeping his gaze all around, occasionally grunting out a "Hey?"

He'd nearly given up when he caught sight of something slipping down an alleyway not too far from the bar. It didn't take long for him to realize it was the woman he sought – she was pressed against the wall, hiding within the shadow of a high building.

"Hey," he called again, reaching a hand out, "you don't have to run away. I was just surprised, is all." The woman's eyes reflected the small amount of light that touched down between the tall buildings. Jesse approached her cautiously. "So you clearly ain't human. What the hell are ya?"

The woman moved away from the wall, instead standing up tall and straight. "It isn't obvious?" Her tone was more aggressive then, but it still held a hint of her playful sarcasm from inside the bar. She beckoned for him to join her in the darkness. Against his better judgment, Jesse followed her. "Can I tell you something?" she asked as she took his chin between her thumb and forefinger, and drew him into the shadows.

"You're gonna kill me?" He probably should have been afraid. But he had seen the faces of people who meant him harm, who wanted him dead. They didn't look at him like this.

She rose up on her toes and drew him in by the front of his shirt. With a giggle she planted her lips on his. In spite of her icy touch the kiss sent fire through his body. He pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her waist. They ended up sliding partway down the wall, devouring each other's faces like the horny drunks they were – or at least that Jesse was. They kissed for a long minute, and then the woman drew back from him. Her eyes were no longer a deep violet. Now they were neon purple with thin, slitted pupils.

"Soo...what are you gonna tell me?" He'd seen his fair share of unbelievable shit in his life. It seemed this was just going to be another addition to that lengthy list.

The woman leaned in and nibbled at the rough skin of his neck.

"I'm a vampire," she said simply.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'm usually hidden away by sunrise." Her voice had taken on a gruff edge, as though she were struggling to speak above a growl. "But you, idiot, kept me too long...now it's daylight and...I have nowhere to go."

Jesse stared at her, the two of them still close enough to share breath. "You need help gettin' somewhere safe?" He said. "Seein' as I'm the one responsible, I'd feel wrong leavin' ya here."

The woman's inhuman eyes searched his. "Are you crazy?"

"Nah." He chuckled. "Stupid, maybe. 'Specially when it comes to the fairer sex."

She seemed to consider that. "How would you help me, anyway? You're just a human. A drunk, idiot human at that."

"You don't like sunlight, right?"

"No."

He grinned and took his hat off. "I got a shady hat and a serape that'd cover ya."

The woman made a face as she pinched its brim between two fingers and brought it close to her nose. She gave it a sniff and scowled. "It smells like your head sweat."

"Sorry. It's the best I got."

She glanced out to the street, where the sun was already warming the pavement. Then she swept her eyes back over Jesse. With a huff she snatched his serape right off and donned his trusty favorite hat. "At least I know I'll look cuter than you in it."

"Can't disagree there." He wrapped her up in the serape and stuck close as she crept out into the sunlight.


	2. A Reason To Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little chapter I wrote at work. There's more to come, and I'm hoping to evolve this into a full story instead of just a 2/3 chapter quickie like I had originally envisioned.

"So why would you help a vampire?"

The woman, whose name he had discovered to be Sombra, was cracking open a can of Coke as she spoke. She'd taken it from Jesse's beat-up old mini-fridge without asking – not that Jesse would have said no to her anyway. She didn't want any solid food, but seemed to enjoy liquids a whole lot. He guessed that came with the territory of her...kind? Species?

He shrugged, angling his thumbs toward his chest. "I'm just a nice guy."

"You didn't even seem that surprised when I told you what I was."

"Eh, I've seen worse."

"Like what?"

He shrugged again.

"You're just lonely, aren't you?" She plunked down on the ratty old couch beside him. "Or else stupidly horny."

He glanced up at the dusty mantle in his tiny shack's excuse for a living room. Other people had photographs, precious memories of their family and loved ones. He had a gun and some tacky, nostalgic old knick-knacks from back home. Nothing especially personal.

"Little of both, maybe."

She slid one leg over him and sat down on his lap. Her body so close to his sent a little jolt through him – and judging by her grin, she clearly noticed.

"Hey." She leaned in and kissed his scruff, brushing her lips gently across his as she drew back. "You know I can’t let you live knowing about me, right?"

"And who do you suppose I’m gonna tell? I'm trying to keep the law off my back myself."

“Why? What’d you do?”

 “I’d be here all day tellin’ ya.”

“I have all day.”

He cracked his neck and gazed up at the dirty ceiling. From the corner of his eye he could see Sombra studying him. “So, what,” he said, “you’re gonna try and kill me now?”

“It’s nothing personal. I kinda have to. Although...”

Her ensuing silence finally baited him into looking over at her. It was, of course, a mistake – her glittering violet eyes met his with a curiosity that was at once innocent and devious. She leaned in close, in such a way that exposed her cleavage just the slightest bit. Jesse quickly angled his face away, but the image was already in his mind.

“...You could always choose to come back afterward,” she finished.

He chuckled. “Now why in the hell would I choose to come back from a nice long sleep like that?”

Sombra snorted. Her laughter was cute and genuine; it was unbefitting of a monster. “That’s a really valid point.” Finally she gave him a little breathing room, opting instead to simply sit beside him. “I personally love being a vampire, though. You grow wings, learn how to shapeshift, you can look young and hot forever...there's really no downside, to be honest. And right now I’m living in a mansion with a hundred other vampires, so you don’t even have to be lonely.”

Jesse looked over at her. “You’ve got wings?”

“Yeah, but you’re not seeing ‘em. At least not until you take me out to dinner or something first.”

“Would lettin’ you bite me count as dinner?”

Sombra’s smile grew. “Hey, I guess it would.”

Jesse exhaled as the two of them stared straight ahead in a long silence. In this situation he really had three options. He could kill her. He could also let her kill him. Or he could allow himself to be bitten and potentially turned to her kind. He could flee from her as well, or kick her out, but he already had so many targets on his back that adding a supernatural monstrosity to that list really didn’t seem like the best idea, so he hardly considered those options.

"If I let ya bite me," he said, "will you stick around? Or are ya gonna take off into the night like a bat?"

"Depends." She leaned her elbow on his shoulder. "Give me something to stay for?"

A moment’s internal debate culminated in Jesse resting his palm on her knee. It was an uncertain gesture, but Sombra didn’t seem to mind it. In fact she shuffled a little closer to him. “Oh, somebody’s getting bold.”

“I can be as bold as you want me to be.”

She took his hand and slid it higher up her thigh. Jesse raised his eyebrows. She seemed to delight in the fluster that reddened his cheeks. “Aww, you’re blushing! That’s adorable!”

“I-I just don’t usually touch a lady like that unless I have her express permission.”

“Okay. You have my permission.”

He must have blushed even deeper, for Sombra’s devilish grin only grew. She pushed herself up against him, running his hand up and down her outer, and then inner, thigh.

“Excuse me, miss.” He pulled his hand away before it could touch anything ungentlemanly. “That’s, uh...”

Sombra giggled. “I am having so much fun with this.”

Despite his better judgment, he found himself more excited by this strange woman than scared of or annoyed by her. It was his turn to freak her out when he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. Her eyes went big and round, and she stared past him instead of at him. “H-hey. I didn’t give you permission for that.”

“Whoops. Sorry.”

“No you’re not.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a deeper kiss. She splayed across his lap once again, one leg on either side of him. Much as he tried, it was all but impossible to hide his reaction. Sombra burst out laughing. With her lengthy claws she reached down and gave him a pinch, causing him to squirm a little. “Guess I don’t have to guess whether or not you’re attracted to me. Makes sense, I’m pretty damn cute after all.”

They were close enough to breathe each other’s breaths, but Jesse quickly realized that Sombra was not breathing. The only time she took in any air was to speak.

She pushed her face into his neck. Goosebumps broke out across his flesh as her tongue moistened his skin, priming it for a bite. The sharp tips of her teeth grazed him, stinging like pinpricks.

“So are you gonna go through with it?” she asked.

He reached over and picked up the half-finished beer that had been left on the table from the night before. Taking a hearty swig of its lukewarm contents, he said, “Fuck it. Bite me.”

Her cocky façade dropped a little. She studied him. "You sure about this, cowboy?"

"Not at all, but, as I said, fuck it."

He could feel her smile against his flesh. "That's the attitude."

There was no hesitation after that. Jesse gasped as her teeth sank deep into him, effortlessly cleaving through his rough skin. The pain was quickly replaced by a tingling, not entirely unpleasant, as she settled her lips on his throat and began sucking the blood out of the bite. He leaned back on his weathered old couch and let her press into him as she drank.

"Fuck," she murmured as his hand slid up the small of her back. "It's been so long since I actually bit someone. You're a crazy man, Jesse McCree."

"We'll see how I feel when I'm sober," he murmured.

They remained locked together for a long while, Sombra lapping at his blood while Jesse ran his organic hand through her long satin hair.

“Oh, and by the way,” she murmured as she began to close up the bite, her tongue sending a shudder through him as she worked with utmost precision, “this will probably kill you.”


	3. Her Eyes Still Glow Like Heaven

He wasn't sure what he thought vampiric conversion would feel like, but it wasn't this.

"Come on, be a big boy." Sombra held his long, scruffy hair back as he retched over the toilet. "I went through this shit when I was  _nine_ and I lived. Well, I mean I didn't, but you know."

Sombra had been with him for two days. During that time he had gone from mildly unwell to so ill he could barely move. She had informed him (after the act, of course) that the bite would, in fact, kill him, and that what he was experiencing now was the slow onset of death by vampiric toxin. 

To put it frankly, dying  _sucked._

"Ughh." He stumbled as he was trying to get up. He probably would have cracked his head on the toilet seat if Sombra hadn't grabbed him first. "Am I gonna feel like this forever?"

"Nope! You'll be dead soon." 

"Right. Thanks for the reassuring."

"No problem, cowboy."

"So..." He did his best to pick himself up and stumble back to his bed without her help. "...You gonna stay here for good?"

"No. I told you I'm going back to France. My sire's waiting for me."

"So is that who your 'guy' was?"

She grinned. "I told you it wasn't a boyfriend. Gabe's like my dad."

Jesse all but collapsed into his broken old bed as soon as he was close enough to fall into it. To his surprise, Sombra climbed in with him. She folded her arms behind her head and reclined beside him, on top of the blankets he was under. "You just stayin' with me 'til I kick, then?" he said.

"Why? You don't want me to?" She leaned over and ran a fingertip down the side of his face. "I'll leave if you don't want me here."

"Never said that."

"Good. Because I'm kind of liking this whole little 'hide away in someone else's house' thing. I feel like a real derelict."

A chill ran through him as his stomach churned again. He had nothing left to throw up, but his body was trying everything it could to rid itself of Sombra's toxin. The toxin he had willingly, although drunkenly, subjected himself to.

"How much longer you think I got?" he asked.

The sudden shift in tone gave Sombra pause. "...Probably not too long," she said. Though she was far from sympathetic, her tone eased off of its usual sadistic amusement.

He drew in a ragged breath. "You said you went through this when you were nine?"

"Yeah."

"What kinda asshole bites a nine-year-old?"

"Oh, I asked him to." She sat up, looking idly around Jesse's tiny bedroom. "My life was shit before I met Gabe. My parents went and died on me when I was so young I can't even remember, and then I grew up with Los Muertos."

"Los Muertos?" He raised his head slightly off the pillow. "The Mexican gang?"

Sombra nodded, still not facing him.

"Jesus. What the hell were they doing with a nine-year-old kid?"

"Whatever they could get me to do." She turned halfway, facing him just slightly. "I wasn't kidding when I said getting bitten was the best thing that ever happened to me."

That gave her opinion on the matter a lot more context. "So this 'Gabe' guy saved you from gang life, huh." He coughed, trying to muster some saliva to continue speaking. "Y'know...I grew up in a gang, too."

Sombra's façade of apathy briefly dropped. "Really?"

"Yeah. Deadlock Gang." He studied his metal arm. "Used to have 'em tattooed on me..."

"Ah." Sombra nodded knowingly. "I was wondering about that."

"I'm lucky I got out with any'a my limbs, to be honest." 

"How old were you?"

"I can't even remember."

"Younger than me?"

"I don't even remember my folks, so, yeah. Probably."

Sombra remained silent for a while. Then she turned around, crawled back over to Jesse's side, and gave him a little punch on the shoulder. "So you've been through shit. You can handle this."

"Yeah...I reckon I can." He smiled weakly. "Maybe I'm just lookin' for attention."

Sombra wormed her way in beside him under the blankets. She cupped his face in one hand and whispered, "You’re a real big baby, huh?"

"I'm a man. It's my God-given right  _and_  expectation to be a baby when I'm sick."

That got a laugh out of her. Jesse's smile grew.

"Well here, why don't I keep you warm at least?" She wrapped her hand around his wrist. He sucked air in between his teeth. She was cold as ice. 

"Now that's just cruel."

"I know. I'm evil."

A wave of fatigue washed over him, draining away his will to joke or be silly. He laid his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes for what was originally meant to be a blink. They did not immediately re-open.

"All kiddin' aside," he murmured, "think I might go sooner rather than later."

He felt Sombra roll over in the bed. "How do you feel about dying all alone?” He could tell by her voice she was facing him. “I mean, no family or friends here. Just the creature that killed you."

"Kinda how I figured it'd go, honestly."

"No regrets?"

Even in his weakened state he managed to smile. "Nah."

The next thing he felt was a pair of soft lips on his cheek. "Okay, well while you're dying I'm gonna go raid your fridge. Be right back!”

"Guess it's the sendoff I deserve." 

She patted him on the arm. He felt the bed shift as she slipped off of it and padded out of the room with cat-like stealth.

Jesse shuddered. As much as he pulled the blanket tight to his body, he did not get any warmer. The chill only sank deeper and deeper into his bones.

* * *

 

She was sipping on one of Jesse's cheap beers when she heard the first  _crash_. It gave her pause, but she ultimately stayed put and took another sip of beer.

The second crash came when he hit the closed bedroom door. At that Sombra finally set the bottle down and called out "I'm coming, I'm coming. Jeez."

The moment she opened the door Jesse leaped on her. "Ow, hey!" With his baby fangs he tried to bite down on her arm. "I don't have any fresh blood, idiot."

His newly christened vampire form was weak, so Sombra had little trouble knocking him aside. His claws scratched the old wooden floor as he quickly righted himself and tried to grab onto her again. "Hey." She grabbed him by his scruffy chin. "Listen to me. I'll get you some blood, but you gotta stop jumping on me like a rabid dog first. Got it?"

It was a pointless negotiation – vampires always woke up like this the first time. Gabe was covered in little bite scars from when Sombra had chewed all over him in a blood frenzy. The difference, of course, was that she was a nine-year-old little girl. Jesse was a grown-ass man with grown-ass man strength and grown-ass man teeth.

His handsome dark eyes were amber in this form. Like all frenzied vampires, his pupils were slitted, and a forked tongue slipped out between his lips, tasting her scent in the air.

"Yeah, you smell that? I'm dead, dumbass." Sombra pushed him away and got back on her feet. "Come on, I'll give you some blood from my stash. I'm just so generous like that."

Jesse snarled, but he halted his attack. Sombra pulled her last vial of blood from the pouch on her belt and untwisted the cap. Before he could grab her again she took his face in one hand and poured the vial into his open, snarling mouth.

The moment he tasted the blood his pupils dilated. He stumbled backward, gnashing his teeth like a starving wild animal. 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s blood. It tastes good to vampires. Now snap out of it and act like a normal person.”

“Guh...I...” Jesse’s eyes flicked back and forth, looking at Sombra, looking at his own hands, looking at the floor with droplets of spilled blood staining it. “What...happened?”

“It’s normal. You’re fine now.” 

“I feel like shit.”

“Again, normal. Welcome to your new life!” She threw her arms out.

Jesse licked his fangs uncertainly.

“And now...” She took one of his hands in hers – it was still warm. That would change in time. “I can take you home with me!”

“To France?”

“I know, you’ll stick out like a sore American thumb. But you won’t be any worse than the vamps who are already there. We have one lady who walks around buckass naked after she showers.”

Jesse managed to get his bearings enough to stand up, though he still had to lean against the wall for support. “What if I don’t wanna go to France?”

“Uh, okay, then I leave you here in Nowhere Land and you figure out how to be a vampire by yourself.”

He sighed, clearly aware he had no other options.

“All right, then we leave at dusk!” She pulled a credit card out of her pocket and held it out for him to see. “The lady who owned this card died a while back, but she had a  _lot_  of miles on here. We can even take a private jet and everything.”

Jesse was clearly still working through his post-conversion fog. He stared at her like she was speaking another language.

“...Or maybe we should stay here another day or two and  _then_  set off,” Sombra conceded.

“That sounds better.”

“Okay, well in that case I’m gonna go raid your fridge some more.”

She waited until her new fledgling was seated on the edge of his bed again before leaving him. A smirk crossed her lips as she walked away. 

Gabriel was going to be  _so_  mad.


End file.
